Mother accused of killing baby in microwave oven

AN American woman is accused of killing her baby daughter by microwaving her in an oven.

China Arnold told police she was drunk but could not recall doing anything that caused the child’s burns, a court heard.

The 26-year-old, of Dayton, Ohio, is charged with aggravated murder over the death of her month-old daughter, Paris Talley, on August 30, 2005.

She has pleaded not guilty.

At a pretrial hearing, Detective Michael Galbraith testified that Arnold told him during questioning: “If I hadn’t gotten so drunk, I guess my baby wouldn’t have died.”

But questioned by defence attorney Jon Paul Rion, Det Galbraith acknowledged that Arnold told him she did not know how the baby suffered the burns, and that she had nothing to do with it that she could recall.

Det Galbraith said Arnold told him she arrived home in the early hours after drinking, fell asleep and was woken at 2.30am by the baby’s crying.

She said she warmed a bottle in the microwave oven, tried to give it to the baby, changed the child’s nappy and then fell asleep on the couch.

Arnold said she and her three children — aged seven, six and three — were the only ones in the apartment until her boyfriend arrived several hours later and noticed something was wrong with the baby.

At the conclusion of the hearing, Judge John Kessler ruled that prosecutors can use some of Arnold’s statements at trial.

He said he would decide later whether certain physical evidence would be admitted.

The coroner concluded that the injuries to Arnold’s baby could have been caused only by the child being cooked in a microwave oven, according to prosecutor Mathias Heck Jr, who is seeking the death penalty.

Det Galbraith said DNA matching the baby was found in the microwave, but he acknowledged that the DNA evidence does not establish who killed the child.

“That microwave was the murder weapon,” he said. “The burns themselves were horrendous.”